The present invention relates to an apparatus for transport and controlled discharge of a load, comprising a frame with a guide for at least one displaceable transport container, a drive means for carrying the transport container in an endless track, a resetting device for placing a transport container in a starting position and a discharge station for selectively receiving a load of a transport container, wherein the transport containers are provided with a movable carrying panel for receiving of the load thereon, comprising at least a first and a second tilt tray which extend between tilt axes located on both sides and which can be selectively tilted between a transporting position and a downward hanging discharge position.
Such an apparatus is applied in particular as sorting device for goods in distribution centres, mail order companies and production environments where different products have to be brought together per (dispatch) destination. The goods for sorting can per se be of many types but particularly comprise books, magazines, items of clothing and other articles with a significant own weight. The apparatus herein normally comprises a connected series of a few dozen to a few hundred transport containers in accordance with the desired sorting capacity. Per discharge station a dispatch box or other receiving means can be placed in which the goods are received per destination. The goods are supplied from a loading station to the transport containers in a sequence which is in principle random and identified manually or otherwise. The drive means carries the transport containers around the track at a relatively high speed, wherein at a certain moment a transport container will pass the discharge station for which the carried product is intended. Having arrived there, an electronic control of the apparatus sets means of the discharge station into operation which are able to actuate the locking mechanism of the transport container and thus release the tilt trays. Under the influence of the force of gravity the tilt trays drop open almost immediately and thus discharge the product into the waiting dispatch box or the like. The transport container then passes over the resetting device, wherein the two tilt trays are closed and the transport container is returned to its starting position, ready for a subsequent lap. Products can thus be distributed over the different discharge stations with a relatively large sorting capacity.
A known apparatus of the type indicated in the preamble is described in a Netherlands patent application made open to public inspection under number 9001116. The known apparatus comprises a drive means in the form of an endless chain to which is coupled a number of transport containers. These latter each comprise a carrying panel for receiving a load thereon consisting of two tilt trays tilting in opposite directions. The one tilt tray herein rests with an edge on the other tilt tray which is provided with a locking mechanism to retain this transporting position. If the locking mechanism is actuated at a discharge station by a solenoid disposed there along the transport path, the locking of the tilt trays is released and they both swing open in downward direction and so lose their load. This whole process takes place between entering and exiting the discharge station so that the load is discharged at the relevant discharge station. Having arrived at the resetting device, the foremost tilt tray as seen in the transport direction is co-displaced and raised by a closing profile, while the other tilt tray is provided diametrically of the tilt axis with an operating member which strikes against a stop disposed close to the track to thus also close this tilt tray and restore the locking.
In order to increase the sorting capacity of the apparatus it is the object in the first place to increase the transport speed. This means that in each of the discharge stations there is very little time available to discharge the collected goods, and that it must also be possible to close the transport container in a very short time. A relatively high own weight of the tilt trays enhances a rapid and reliable unloading, but also ensures that the tilt trays open with rather great force and then continue to swing for a time, whereby additional wear occurs. In the case of the resetting device it is important that the tilt trays are returned to the transporting position in the correct sequence, since otherwise the locking mechanism will not be able to keep the transport container closed. Particularly the protruding operating member of the rear tilt tray is an element susceptible to malfunction here. If this member is not adequately accessible, for instance because a product such as an item of clothing becomes caught thereon during a lap, the transport container will not close.